How to Make Easy Keepsake Chalkboard Ornaments

Shared below is a tutorial for keepsake Chalkboard Ornaments, a handmade Christmas ornament guaranteed to make your heart swoon every holiday season. Made with wood slices, chalkboard paint, and your child’s drawings, they are the perfect keepsake gift for moms, grandparents, and teachers.

How to Chalkboard Ornaments

If you’ve been following along for a while, you know that I’m sentimental and adore keepsake crafts. But here’s the problem…my boys are now 6 and 8! Their hands and feet are getting big—almost too big for classic hand and footprint art.

So what’s a Mama to do?

One idea is to preserve the other little bits…handwriting, sketches, drawings, and of course take a lot of photos. This holiday season, we created an Easy Keepsake Chalkboard Ornament that actually uses “permanent” chalk! My boys’ illustrations will now be enjoyed for many years to come.

To Make This Keepsake Ornament You Will Need

Directions for DIY Chalkboard Ornament

1. After gathering supplies, use the paintbrush to apply 2 layers of chalkboard paint. Be sure to let the paint dry in between layers.

2. Invite children to draw a small picture on the dried chalkboard paint. I reminded my boys to draw carefully, as the chalkboard markers we were using were permanent. If you use our suggested supplies, there is no reason to seal the ornament, as the permanent chalk marker and chalkboard paint never fades or rubs away.

Both boys drew pictures of themselves in the summer, with my youngest son adding the companionship of our family dog.

Tip: If you are having trouble locating permanent chalk markers, try using silver or gold Sharpie markers.

3. Our ornaments came with twine already attached, but if yours don’t, tie a small loop of thin twine through the hole.

4. Be sure to have your children personalize the ornament with their signature and the date on the back of the ornament.

Aren’t they sweet? These darling chalkboard ornaments are my favorite to put on our Christmas tree each year!

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Chalkboard Ornaments

Shared below is a tutorial for keepsake Chalkboard Ornaments, a handmade Christmas ornament guaranteed to make your heart swoon every holiday season. Made with wood slices, chalkboard paint, and your child’s drawings, they are the perfect keepsake gift for moms, grandparents, and teachers.

Prep Time10 minutes

Active Time10 minutes

Total Time20 minutes

DifficultyEasy

Materials

Wood slices

Chalkboard paint

Permanent chalkboard marker

Twine

Foam paintbrush

Instructions

After gathering supplies, use the paintbrush to apply 2 layers of chalkboard paint. Be sure to let the paint dry in between layers.

Invite children to draw a small picture on the dried chalkboard paint.

Our ornaments came with twine already attached, but if yours don’t, tie a small loop of thin twine through the hole.

Be sure to have your children personalize the ornament with their signature and the date on the back of the ornament.

Your Chalkboard Ornament is complete!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

I love this idea and would like to have my preshoolers try it for parent gifts this year for something different. Do you think this would work with Sharpie markers on the chalk paint instead? Alternately, would non permanent chalk markers with a coat of varnish work to protect it? I’d like to give them more than just a few color choices and am having problems locating colored permanent chalk. Thank you!

I think the only Sharpie markers that will work would be the silver and gold Sharpies. I’ve never tried it with non-permanent chalk markers, so I recommend trying it yourself first at home! Let me know how they turn out. 🙂

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